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Spreadsheets are rather peculiar. I don't think anyone would come up with the concept of them today. This "fill formula down/right" feature is so strange. A de

Spreadsheets are rather peculiar. I don't think anyone would come up with the concept of them today. This "fill formula down/right" feature is so strange. A developer would be like: let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column. And let's name the columns something. Like Airtable. But its surpringly flexible and hackable. I wish there was something like GSheets + Airtable.

rs999gti 4y ago
> I wish there was something like GSheets + Airtable Smartsheet.com ?
mpweiher 4y ago
> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column Meet Lotus Improv (1991): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv I think the patents have expired now.
- bargle0 4y ago
  Improv brought me joy. There isn’t anything like it.
  - recuter 4y ago
    I read this many times on HN. As far as I can tell Excel copied most of it about a decade later with pivot tables.
    - geocar 4y ago
      Sort of. Improv lets you work in the pivot though, like that's the main view, and the ramifications of that are huge. - You don't have to make your sum/avg/analytic rows because Improv does that automatically. Yes, Excel does this on the pivot tables, but because you can't work there, a lot of people make a SUM(B2:B999) or something to make summary data more accessible. - Your formulas look simple like ConversionRate=Total:Closes/Total:Leads instead of =SUM(A2:A99)/SUM(B2:B99) and sure I know there's a way to make Excel do something like that, but nobody does, which is one thing that makes it hard to mix stuff between multiple documents in Excel -- someone moves the lead count on the lead sheet and it blows everything up back at headquarters. In Improv if someone renamed Leads to Pipe or something it'd break and you'd see that right away with much less chaos. And so on
aarondia 4y ago
If when you say GSheets + Airtable, you're looking for a spreadsheet that is designed for data analysis +a let's you name columns and sets formulas to the entire column, then checkout Mito (https://www.trymito.io https://www.trymito.io). Disclosure: I created Mito. Mito doesn't have real time collaboration though. That is, not until Jupyter real time collaboration becomes more popular (https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user/rtc.html https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user/rtc.html)
- vaughan 4y ago
  I think the real test is: can it quickly build an ad-hoc financial model. This is the bread and butter of spreadsheets. Mito doesn't look like it keeps the flexibility of a spreadsheet in that way.
tylerchurch 4y ago
> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column. And let's name the columns something If you turn a worksheet section into a proper Table in excel, it does exactly this.
anaisconce 4y ago
Sounds like you're describing Grist! And it's open source. https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core
dsagal 4y ago
Grist is it, in fact "GSheets + Airtable" is how people often see it. From https://blog.appsumo.com/airtable-alternatives/#3_Grist https://blog.appsumo.com/airtable-alternatives/#3_Grist: "Grist has been described as if Google Sheets + Microsoft Excel + Airtable had a beautiful baby."
nonethewiser 4y ago
> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column. And let's name the columns something. I don’t understand because you obviously can do this with sheets/excel
- srcreigh 4y ago
  Enter the formula on row 1, copy it, select the column and paste
airstrike 4y ago
Hah, it's you again! I keep bumping into you on these threads and feeling like I'm reading my own words in your comments. Yes, spreadsheets are beautiful. Most developers are missing the vision (and I think they missed the point in your comment too)
gregwebs 4y ago
It’s called coda.io I use it for small data and I love it.
Jakob 4y ago
> set a formula for the entire column Spreadsheet power users on both excel and sheets do exactly that. It’s called array formula. Press cmd-shift-enter on the cell with the formula and it’s valid for the entire column and can be changed in one central place.

rs999gti 4y ago

> I wish there was something like GSheets + Airtable Smartsheet.com ?

mpweiher 4y ago

> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column Meet Lotus Improv (1991): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Improv I think the patents have expired now.

bargle0 4y ago
Improv brought me joy. There isn’t anything like it.
- recuter 4y ago
  I read this many times on HN. As far as I can tell Excel copied most of it about a decade later with pivot tables.
  - geocar 4y ago
    Sort of. Improv lets you work in the pivot though, like that's the main view, and the ramifications of that are huge. - You don't have to make your sum/avg/analytic rows because Improv does that automatically. Yes, Excel does this on the pivot tables, but because you can't work there, a lot of people make a SUM(B2:B999) or something to make summary data more accessible. - Your formulas look simple like ConversionRate=Total:Closes/Total:Leads instead of =SUM(A2:A99)/SUM(B2:B99) and sure I know there's a way to make Excel do something like that, but nobody does, which is one thing that makes it hard to mix stuff between multiple documents in Excel -- someone moves the lead count on the lead sheet and it blows everything up back at headquarters. In Improv if someone renamed Leads to Pipe or something it'd break and you'd see that right away with much less chaos. And so on

aarondia 4y ago

If when you say GSheets + Airtable, you're looking for a spreadsheet that is designed for data analysis +a let's you name columns and sets formulas to the entire column, then checkout Mito (https://www.trymito.io https://www.trymito.io). Disclosure: I created Mito. Mito doesn't have real time collaboration though. That is, not until Jupyter real time collaboration becomes more popular (https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user/rtc.html https://jupyterlab.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user/rtc.html)

vaughan 4y ago
I think the real test is: can it quickly build an ad-hoc financial model. This is the bread and butter of spreadsheets. Mito doesn't look like it keeps the flexibility of a spreadsheet in that way.

tylerchurch 4y ago

> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column. And let's name the columns something If you turn a worksheet section into a proper Table in excel, it does exactly this.

anaisconce 4y ago

Sounds like you're describing Grist! And it's open source. https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core https://github.com/gristlabs/grist-core

dsagal 4y ago

Grist is it, in fact "GSheets + Airtable" is how people often see it. From https://blog.appsumo.com/airtable-alternatives/#3_Grist https://blog.appsumo.com/airtable-alternatives/#3_Grist: "Grist has been described as if Google Sheets + Microsoft Excel + Airtable had a beautiful baby."

nonethewiser 4y ago

> let's just set a formula for the entire column, and make it refer to another column. And let's name the columns something. I don’t understand because you obviously can do this with sheets/excel

srcreigh 4y ago
Enter the formula on row 1, copy it, select the column and paste

airstrike 4y ago

Hah, it's you again! I keep bumping into you on these threads and feeling like I'm reading my own words in your comments. Yes, spreadsheets are beautiful. Most developers are missing the vision (and I think they missed the point in your comment too)

gregwebs 4y ago

It’s called coda.io I use it for small data and I love it.

Jakob 4y ago

> set a formula for the entire column Spreadsheet power users on both excel and sheets do exactly that. It’s called array formula. Press cmd-shift-enter on the cell with the formula and it’s valid for the entire column and can be changed in one central place.